I've finally reached the point in both my front and back gardens where now all I can do is wait. I’ve reconditioned soil and weeded and cleared the dead plants and killer thugs. I’ve planted seeds and seedlings and dug up crowded bulbs and rhizomes; split them and replanted throughout the space. Besides maintenance, there is little else to do, except wait.
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| The state of our front and back yard gardens, August 5, 2011 |
Today Alec and I took a walk around our neighborhood and checked out our neighbors gardens. My favorites were ones that were lush and in full bloom (and decidedly English).
I almost sighed with envy and despair as it would be quite some time before mine will be filled out as much. But then I remembered the Teilhard de Chardin poem:
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| My favorite flower garden |
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| Hands down, my favorite urban farm garden (chicken coops and all) |
I almost sighed with envy and despair as it would be quite some time before mine will be filled out as much. But then I remembered the Teilhard de Chardin poem:
Above all, trust the slow work of God.
We are, quite naturally,
impatient in everything to reach the end
without delay.
We should like to skip
the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on
the way to something unknown,
something new,
and yet it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through
some stage of instability –
and that it may take a very long time.
We are, quite naturally,
impatient in everything to reach the end
without delay.
We should like to skip
the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on
the way to something unknown,
something new,
and yet it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through
some stage of instability –
and that it may take a very long time.
And so I think it is with you.
Your ideas mature gradually –
let them grow,
let them shape themselves,
without undue haste.
Don’t try to force them on,
as though you could be today
what time (that is to say, grace and
circumstances acting
on your own good will)
will make them tomorrow.
Your ideas mature gradually –
let them grow,
let them shape themselves,
without undue haste.
Don’t try to force them on,
as though you could be today
what time (that is to say, grace and
circumstances acting
on your own good will)
will make them tomorrow.
Only God could say what this new spirit
gradually forming within you will be.
Give Our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of
feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.
gradually forming within you will be.
Give Our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of
feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.
Teilhard de Chardin
